This invention relates to a device for mounting components, such as pipes, on a stud.
Prior devices for attaching a component to a threaded stud, welded to the body of an automobile, for example, have a bore into which the stud is inserted to engage pawls that fasten the device to the stud. In one such device, the orientation of the pawls in the bore is fixed, which restricts insertion of the stud into the bore to a single direction.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 9-159061 discloses a device for attaching a component to a stud, in which the stud can be inserted into a bore from either end. Flexible fingers having thread-engaging protrusions bend from hinge sections when a stud is inserted into the bore. However the fingers are bent nearly 90° from the hinge sections, and as a result a large insertion force is required to insert the stud. Also, because the retention force is limited by the thin sections, the attachment of the device to the stud is weak.
The invention of the above-cited copending application permits the easy insertion of a stud into the bore of an attachment device from either direction and is capable of a secure attachment. One embodiment disclosed in the above-identified copending application, has a pair of pawls, but as mentioned in that application, the number of pawls is not limited to two.
FIGS. 1A and 1B show a two-pawl embodiment of the copending application. FIG. 1A shows a situation in which a stud 30 is inserted into the bore of the attachment device with some lateral deviation between the axis of the stud and the axis of the bore, while FIG. 1B shows a situation in which there is little or no deviation. In FIG. 1A, the two pawls 7 are oriented asymmetrically with respect to the stud, so that the extent of engagement of the pawls with the threads 31 of the stud (A in one case and B in the other case) is unequal, and slippage between the stud and the pawls is more likely to occur than in the situation shown in FIG. 1B, where the pawls 7 are equally engaged with the threads 31 of the stud (i.e., A=B). Indeed, in FIG. 1A the pawl 7 at the left of the figure has become almost ineffective in restraining the slippage of the attachment device along the stud 30.